Full Description
Winner of the Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association
The Benue River Valley is the source of some of the most abstract, dramatic, and inventive sculpture in sub-Saharan Africa. A vast region, the Valley extends from the heart of present-day Nigeria eastward to its border with Cameroon, and is home to a large number of ethnic and linguistic groups, all of whom have produced sculptures that are remarkable for their variety.
This book brings together figurative wood sculptures and ceramic vessels, masks, and elaborate bronze and iron regalia drawn from public and private collections in Europe and the United States, selected to exemplify important typologies within the region, along with many historical photographs. The 18 contributors demonstrate that the stylistic tendencies were constantly evolving due to cultural exchanges, mutual influences, and other points of contact in an area that like the Benue River itself was historically in a state of flux. These objects speak to us not only through their superb formal qualities but also through the circumstances of their being rooted in a turbulent past, situated between war and colonization.
Contents
Forewords--Marla C. Berns and Stephane Martin; A Note from the Director of Museums, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria--Nath Mayo Adediran; Preface--Marla C. Berns Introduction: Central Nigeria Unmasked--Marla C. Berns and Richard Fardon Part 1 The Lower Benue: Fluid Artistic Identities 1 Introduction: Reimagining Lower Benue Art History --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; 2 Idoma Art and the Intersection of Benue Histories and Geographies --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; Interleaf A Idoma and Tiv Artists--Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; Interleaf B Umale Oganegi, Igala Artist--Susan Picton; 3 The Ancestral Masquerade: A Paradigm of Benue Valley Art History --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir A. The Igala Egwu Afia--John Boston; B. Ebira Masquerade and Its Histories--John Picton; C. Ndako Gboya Masquerades of the Nupe--Constanze Weise; D. Power and Gender in the History of Egungun--John C. Willis; E. Dead Fathers of Okpella--Jean Borgatti; 4 Ebira and the Niger-Benue Confluence: Material Culture and Masquerade; Artifact and Identity Revisited--John Picton; 5 Igala Masquerades and Figure Sculpture--John Boston; 6 Lost-Wax Casting along the Benue--Nancy Neaher Maas; Interleaf C A Note on the "Igala" Bell--Nancy Neaher Maas; Interleaf D A Note on Idoma Bells and Smoking Pipes--Sidney Littlefield Kasfir Part 2 The Middle Benue: Visual Resemblances, Connected Histories 7 Introduction: The Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; 8 The Quick and the Dead: Versatile Wooden Figures from the Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; Interleaf E Wurbo Jukun Sculpture from the Taraba and Wase River Valleys --Marla C. Berns; 9 A Memoir: The Jukun of the Middle Benue with a Brief Entry on the Goemai--Arnold Rubin; 10 Hybrids: Theranthropic Horizontal Masquerades from the Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; Interleaf F Mining the Rubin Archive: Mid-Twentieth-Century Documentation of Two Mumuye Masquerades--Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi; 11 Seen or Heard? Masquerades That Cry and Figures That Talk among the Mumuye--Mette Bovin; Interleaf G Heavy Metal: The Prestige of Iron in the Middle Benue --Richard Fardon; 12 Kantana, Kulere, and Their Neighbors South of the Jos Plateau --Barbara Frank; Interleaf H A Myriad of Mangam Masks--Marla C. Berns; 13 Embodiments Large and Small: Sacred Wood Sculpture of the Wurkun and Bikwin--Joerg Adelberger; 14 Enigmatic Embodiments: Vertical Masks in Cross-Cultural Perspective--Marla C. Berns Part 3 The Upper Benue: Expressive and Ritual Capacities of Clay 15 Introduction to Upper Benue Arts--Marla C. Berns; 16 Modeling Therapies: Vessels for Healing and Protection in the Western Gongola Valley--Marla C. Berns; 17 Containing Power: Identities in Clay in the Eastern Gongola Valley, the Ga'anda--Marla C. Berns; 18 Containing Power: Identities in Clay in the Eastern Gongola Valley, the 'Bena, Yungur, and Dera--Marla C. Berns; Interleaf I Vestiges in Wood: Ancestor Sculptures of the Eastern Gongola Valley --Marla C. Berns Epilogue Making the Market for Benue Arts: Notes on the French Connection --Helene Joubert Notes to the Text; References Cited; Index; Contributors
